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Thursday, October 13, 2016

Odds and ends from my race weekend

I'm still writing my review of Hanson's marathon method, but I did want to tie up some loose ends from my marathon weekend.
What a sky! 

  • My cold: I think I actually beat it. It was better on Saturday night and I didn't even think about it on Sunday, except a mild sore throat. Hooray!
  • Nutrition: I should have eaten more the day before the race, but oh well. It's hard to travel and race. And I actually ended up doing just four gels - my usual amount - during the race. I was aiming for five per the Hanson's calorie calculator, but once I unpacked and saw how many gels I brought home with me, I realized that I only ate four. I must have gotten off schedule when the water-stop frequency increased later in the race. So I can't report on that aspect of Hanson's.
They call this sky color "Medtronic blue"
  • Shoes: My shoes hit 400 miles at the end of the race. They felt fine, though. I tried to change to a new pair the week of the race, but they felt oddly tight and I didn't want to risk it. I ran in my Saucony Kinvaras. I am still wearing the New Balance Zante, but I don't think I will buy another pair - they allow too much foot movement. 
  • My recovery: I usually try to do something active the night of the race or the next day to prevent terrible stiffness, but I dropped the ball on that one. I haven't done any running yet - all I've done is some hip PT. But it's gorgeous weather so I hope my quads are up to running this weekend! 
  • Injuries: None, knock on wood. Post-race I had one blood blister and a bloody toe, and my hips were quite stiff, but I feel much better now. I had some below-the-knee tendonitis before the race that I hope goes away completely with rest. 
  • Soreness: I am more sore after this race than any I've ever run. I think the fact that the more difficult part of the race is late, run on tired legs, damages your muscles a little more. This is the first time I have struggled to go down stairs post-race. I'm so glad I didn't end up running to catch any flights on the way home!
  • Video: Want to see bad running form? Watch my finish here! Please ignore the woman finishing right in front of me, whom I did not catch. 
  • Live tracker: It didn't work! Lisa tried to use it to plan her spectating, and got one text at mile 18; David also got a text at 18, then got a text saying I had finished in 3 hours and 18 minutes. But it was only 11:13 when he got the text, so he knew that was wrong since the race started at 11! 
  • Stomach: Oh, man. My stomach was a mess this race. It hurt during the race, but the cramping afterward was the real problem. I was miserable! I did more Powerade than usual, so that could be the culprit, but I also had much less practice using fuel since my long runs capped at 16 miles.


5 comments:

  1. Congrats, what a fantastic finishing time and thorough review... awaiting / looking forward to your take on the Hanson's method.

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  2. Even though it's not a review of the plan itself this has some pretty good tips in it and things to think about for my future races. I'm glad you had a good race and recovery is going well so far!

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  3. Great job again! You ran so fast, you probably outran your cold. Joke. Interesting that your plan called for 5 gels ... I think I always use 4, much more than that seems like too much sugar on my stomach, but who knows ... it's been so long since I've ran a marathon, I probably have it all wrong.

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    1. I usually do four, and did this time, as well. That plus some powerade seemed like a ton of sugar, but the plan's calorie calculator indicated I'd need more.

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  4. The tracking ap wasn't terrible. I didn't get ANY updates on Phil and I also got the inaccurate finish time for you. I have never had trouble with a tracking ap so I don't know what was going on. Luckily the online one that showed when you hit certain points was working so that made it really easy to know when to come out to summit Ave to see you around 23/24. I think we maybe waited 10 minutes? So not much at all!

    I can see why you were extra sore after this race, though. Those late hills just make for a brutal recovery. I usually take the day after the marathon off but last year I worked and it was incredibly painful to walk around the office and get in and out of my desk chair!!

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